The counterfeit Countess, the Jewish woman who rescued thousands of Poles during the Holocaust, Elizabeth B. White and Joanna Sliwa
Type
Label
The counterfeit Countess, the Jewish woman who rescued thousands of Poles during the Holocaust, Elizabeth B. White and Joanna Sliwa
Language
eng
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-290) and index
resource.biographical
individual biography
Illustrations
illustrationsplatesmaps
Index
index present
Literary Form
non fiction
Main title
The counterfeit Countess
Nature of contents
bibliography
Oclc number
1384411761
Responsibility statement
Elizabeth B. White and Joanna Sliwa
Sub title
the Jewish woman who rescued thousands of Poles during the Holocaust
Summary
"The astonishing story of Dr. Josephine Janina Mehlberg--a Jewish mathematician who saved thousands of lives in Nazi-occupied Poland by masquerading as a Polish aristocrat--drawing on Mehlberg's own unpublished memoir. World War II and the Holocaust have given rise to many stories of resistance and rescue, but The Counterfeit Countess is unique. It tells the remarkable, unknown story of "Countess Janina Suchodolska," a Jewish woman who rescued more than 10,000 Poles imprisoned by Poland's Nazi occupiers. Mehlberg operated in Lublin, Poland, headquarters of Aktion Reinhard, the SS operation that murdered 1.7 million Jews in occupied Poland. Using the identity papers of a Polish aristocrat, she worked as a welfare official while also serving in the Polish resistance. With guile, cajolery, and steely persistence, the "Countess" persuaded SS officials to release thousands of Poles from the Majdanek concentration camp. She won permission to deliver food and medicine--even decorated Christmas trees--for thousands more of the camp's prisoners. At the same time, she personally smuggled supplies and messages to resistance fighters imprisoned at Majdanek, where 63,000 Jews were murdered in gas chambers and shooting pits. Incredibly, she eluded detection, and ultimately survived the war and emigrated to the US. Drawing on the manuscript of Mehlberg's own unpublished memoir, supplemented with prodigious research, Elizabeth White and Joanna Sliwa, professional historians and Holocaust experts, have uncovered the full story of this remarkable woman. They interweave Mehlberg's sometimes harrowing personal testimony with broader historical narrative. Like The Light of Days, Schindler's List, and Irena's Children, The Counterfeit Countess is an unforgettable account of inspiring courage in the face of unspeakable cruelty"--, Provided by publisher
Table Of Contents
Introduction -- Before -- The beginning of the end -- Terror comes to Lwów -- Transformation -- The dystopian utopia -- Annihilation -- "Better to die a soldier" -- Frozen cargo -- The Polish question -- Majdanek -- Janina's lists -- Rescue -- Soup with a side of hope -- Harvest of death -- Christmas at Majdanek -- Cat and mouse -- The plot -- The end approaches -- Blood on the stairs -- The end -- Flight -- A new beginning -- Epilogue: "Janina's story" -- Coda
resource.variantTitle
Jewish woman who rescued thousands of Poles during the Holocaust